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Sperm motility is the ability of sperm to move efficiently. This is important in fertility because sperm need to move through the woman's reproductive tract to reach and fertilize her egg. Poor sperm motility can be a cause of male factor infertility.

Men who suffer symptoms from varicoceles, enlarged veins in the scrotum, are more likely to develop vascular disease and metabolic disease, such as diabetes, according to a study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

I had to convince a lot of people and many people wouldn't be convinced, so it was a damn big fight. But when I was fighting I wasn't fighting for myself I was fighting for my patients. I think I've been lucky – at the right time in the right place.

An inexpensive fertility drug, which has been available for more than 50 years and can be taken orally, has proved as effective as other more costly hormones when used for ovarian stimulation before intrauterine stimulation (IUI). Investigator Dr Noor Danhof from the AMC Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Amsterdam says the results of the study, a large randomised trial performed in the Netherlands, now make this "least expensive and least invasive stimulation agent" the drug of choice in IUI.

A higher number of eggs retrieved in an IVF treatment cycle is independently associated with more chromosomally normal embryos available for transfer, according to a new study. However, the benefit of a greater oocyte yield decreases significantly with advancing female age.

A few studies have found that the chance of natural conception can be affected by the age of the male partner, particularly in the genetic health of sperm cells, but the celebrity examples of Charlie Chaplin or Luciano Pavarotti have kept alive the notion that male fertility goes on forever. Now, a new study from the USA in IVF couples shows quite clearly that live birth outcome is clearly affected by the age of the male partner.

Couples who are undergoing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in order to avoid transmission of inherited diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis, should also have their embryos screened for abnormal numbers of chromosomes at the same time, say researchers.

Details of a pioneering IVF technique using mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) have been revealed, giving hope to those families with inheritable mitochondrial disorders that they may be able to have healthy children in the future.